Ten start-ups make presentations at the second Demo Day of Metro Accelerator powered by Techstars – Digital business models for the food service and hospitality sector presented to about 300 international investors and experts – Acceleration of digitisation in the food service and hospitality sector and new momentum for the entire industry – New accelerator programme focusing on digital solutions for retail to be launched in June 2017
Berlin – 8 December 2016
At the Demo Day, the 10 international teams of the Metro Accelerator powered by Techstars presented their innovative business ideas to about 300 global investors, experts and multipliers. The Demo Day marks the completion and highlight of the second round of the world’s first accelerator programme focusing on digital solutions for the food service and hospitality sector. After three intensive months in our co-working space in central Berlin – including comprehensive mentoring and coaching by leading industry experts under the leadership of Metro and Techstars – the founders now aim to attract more investors for their business concepts.
“Digitisation is increasingly asserting itself in the food service and hospitality sector as well. It’s our goal to actively shape this transformation and help our customers to become even more successful,” says Olaf Koch, Chairman of the Management Board of Metro AG. “With our accelerator programmes, we support innovations and help founders to test, improve and bring their ideas and solutions to market. We give them start-up assistance, provide support through our network and know-how, and are a critical companion and door opener. Many solutions simplify business processes, increase efficiency or improve the customer experience. In the end, the entire industry benefits from new business models and technological solutions.”
Ten teams from seven countries were selected from more than 600 applications for the programme in October 2016 and were each supported with up to €120,000. During the three-month accelerator programme in the German Tech Entrepreneurship Center in Berlin, the start-ups gained access to market expertise and to Metro’s customer and supplier networks. About 120 external mentors provided intensive support in more than 500 consulting hours dedicated to the start-ups. Many teams have successfully established products in the market or sharpened their business model and positioning in the accelerator.
“Highly motivated founders have refined relevant solutions for their customers in the accelerator. The great interest shown by investors at the Demo Day demonstrates that we are on the right track and confirms our course. We are helping new business models to grow and are connecting our customers with the digital world,” Koch says.
Three of the 10 teams redesigned their business models completely: Apparier, Frag Paul and Hyre changed their brand and positioning.
“The founders have made enormous progress in a short period of time and with a tight programme. We are proud to support them with our advice, expertise and network, and to move them forward. The 10 international teams show that innovations also enable growth in areas that have barely been digitised so far, such as the food service and hospitality sector,” says Alexander Zumdieck, Managing Director Metro Accelerator for Metro AG.
“Metro Accelerator powered by Techstars is a poster child and benchmark in the international start-up scene. In combination with the Demo Day and the alumni programme, we have created a unique platform for innovation and investment,” adds Jens Lapinski, Managing Director Metro Accelerator for Techstars.
The start-ups from the first programme also show positive developments. In cooperation with Lunchio, among others, Metro is currently building up a pilot project for digitised restaurants in major cities. Flowtify was able to refine its business model and gained another prestigious investor in High-Tech Gründerfonds. In total, eight of the 11 participating start-ups from the first programme have already been able to attract third-party investments in addition to the funds provided by Techstars and Metro.
The existing accelerator programme with a focus on the food service and hospitality sector will continue in 2017. Furthermore, Metro has launched another programme in cooperation with Techstars: the Metro Accelerator for Retail powered by Techstars focuses on digital solutions for the retail sector. Applications can be submitted until 12 March 2017.
These 10 start-ups have successfully finished the 2nd Metro Accelerator powered by Techstars:
Apparier
Apparier is a software solution that matches a fine dining restaurant‘s passion for food, hospitality and guest experiences, to each customer‘s personal preference for quality service. Controlled by the restaurant, the transactions take place in advance of the customer‘s visit, at a premium price. Apparier vastly increases the profitability of the best restaurants, driving their earning levels on their best tables and private dining areas. We help to reduce the financial risk linked to no-shows by unlocking greater efficiency in back and front of house processes. Apparier drives substantial returns to the restaurant‘s bottom line.
FOUNDERS:
Damian Hall | CEO
Simon Cole | COO
CONTACT:
[email protected]
[email protected]
apparier.com | @myapparier
Cheerfy
Cheerfy is the in store customer engagement solution. We boost businesses‘ knowledge of their customers and enable in store personalised interactions that drive loyalty and revenues. By integrating with the existing Wi-Fi network and CRM/PoS, Cheerfy identifies customers as they walk into the store, enabling businesses to automatically send personalised messages and notifying employees of VIP customers’ so they can treat them to a more personal experience. The key advantages of Cheerfy are that it needs no user application, no manual check-in and no additional hardware.
FOUNDERS:
Carlos Gómez | Co-Founder, CEO
Adrian Maseda | Co-Founder, COO
CONTACT:
[email protected]
[email protected]
cheerfy.co | @Cheerfy
Frag Paul
Paul is the digital personal HR assistant for small restaurants. Paul helps restaurant-owners save time and money and enables them to focus on their core task: taking care of their customers. His abilities currently include: employee management, interactive shift management, absence and holiday management and payroll accounting, as well as time tracking. Long story short: there is only one answer to every question, task or problem
regarding HR-Management – AskPaul!
FOUNDERS:
Marc Stratmann | CEO
Wladislaw Kanewski | COO
Peter Praeder | CTO
CONTACT:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
frag-paul.de | @fragPaul
Hoard Spot
Hoard helps vacation rental hosts to find a welcoming reception desk where guests can pick-up and deposit the keys to their rented flat. Hoard creates a „win-win“ situation for hosts and the local stores we partner with, a concept which has been proven with an Airbnb partnership, several hundred partner stores and thousands of hosts in more than 16 cities across Europe. But this is just the beginning, Hoard is currently running a pilot with a large European e-commerce company to store parcels (with a potential of 55 million parcels per year) and deliver them on demand to online shoppers within 20 minutes.
FOUNDERS:
Anthony Forsans | CEO
Johannes Hollmann | COO
Arne Petersen | CPO
Sebastian Obentheuer | CTO
CONTACT:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
hoardspot.com | @hoardspot
Hyre
hyre is an online marketplace that is revolutionizing the event staffing industry by connecting event organizers with high quality event staff. Organizers are given complete and total control over price and quality of staff through the platform’s unique performance rating system. For event staff, hyre is the most convenient way to book shifts, allowing them to have flexibility and control over their schedule. The platform’s rating system rewards great performance with higher earning potential.
FOUNDER:
Eropa Stein | CEO
CONTACT:
[email protected]
hyrestaff.com | @hyrestaff
Jagger
Jagger is a conversational marketing automation tool for e-commerce shops. Based on the analysis of the business‘s e-com store and facebook page, Jagger automatically suggests marketing campaigns to shop owners that are targeted to the right audience, optimized for the right time and with engaging content. Managers just need to answer few questions via chat and Jagger does the rest! The simplicity of Jagger‘s conversational UI, along with its AI-based personalization, enables e-commerce shop owners to run effective online marketing campaigns easily, without the need of prior marketing knowledge or a large time commitment.
FOUNDERS:
Ronen Cooper | CEO
Shay Livnat | CTO
Michael Yungerman | Chief Architect
CONTACT:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
gojagger.com | @gojagger
Pantree.co
Pantreeco is a co-commerce platform for the hospitality industry. Our technology helps teams avoid the challenges of managing commercial partnerships over traditional channels such as email, fax and phone. Pantreeco centralises ordering and communication between a buyer and supplier. We are successfully moving conversations into a digital channel without any friction to either side of the marketplace and this allows us to integrate important data directly into a supplier’s business accurately and efficiently.
FOUNDERS:
Leigh Sherman | CEO
Joshua Chittick | CTO
CONTACT:
[email protected]
[email protected]
pantreeco.com | @pantreeco
Reputize
Reputize helps hotels capture in-stay customer reviews, so that managers can react to guest feedback in real time. As well as increasing a hotel‘s customer satisfaction rate, in-stay guest feedback can be published on major review portals. These reviews contribute to higher online visibility and rankings for the hotel, ensuring more recurring direct bookings.
FOUNDERS:
Ivo Dimitrov | CEO
Alexander Krustev | Business Development Director
CONTACT:
[email protected]
[email protected]
reputize.com | @reputize_co
Smunch
Smunch (Smart Lunch) is the best lunch program for companies. We make it simple for companies to offer high-quality lunches to their teams, without the huge investment of a kitchen or canteen. Our food comes from a new, hand-picked restaurant each day, giving a huge variety of delicious, healthy food, while the restaurants we partner with receive bulk orders, in advance of lunch-time service, giving them additional revenue.
FOUNDERS:
Shivram Ayyagari | Co-Founder, CEO
Oliver Hüfner | Co-Founder, CFO
CONTACT:
[email protected]
[email protected]
smunch.co | @SmunchSays
tsenso
tsenso is an automated, cloud-based solution to track and gather information on product storage conditions from farm to fork. It collects complex logistical and monitoring data and aggregates it into a “Fresh Index”, a real-time shelf life indicator. This enables wholesalers and retailers to make decisions on quality assurance and determine weak spots within the supply chain. Suppliers, distributors and consumers benefit from a higher level of food transparency which reduces costs, leads to increased trust and less food wastage at all stages of the supply chain.
FOUNDERS:
Dr. Matthias Brunner | Founder
Veronika Tomasu | Marketing
Rahul Tomar | Development
CONTACT:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
tsenso.com | @tsensoCom